Montpellier win seven in a row, young Metalurg end up third

Montpellier claimed their seventh consecutive win over Elverum and matched their longest winning run in the VELUX EHF Champions League. The French powerhouse confirmed the top spot in the group. In the second match of the group, Metalurg claimed the third spot, after beating Chekhovskie Medvedi.

• Montpellier claim seventh consecutive win; matched their longest winning run
• French side will play Zaporozhye in the playoff; La Rioja will cross the path with Nantes
• In Round 10, all three hosts won in Group C
• Metalurg Skopje won their first VELUX EHF Champions League match without Filip Taleski
• Metalurg claim third spot in the group; Chekhovskie Medvedi stay at the bottom

Montpellier HB (FRA) vs Elverum handball (NOR) 31:24 (16:11)

The French side proved their superiority in the group after overcoming Elverum comfortably 31:24. It was a true handball fiesta right from the start, celebrating the French Champions and the fantastic form Montpellier found after a mediocre start into the group phase.

Leader

Truchanovicius lead his team, taking Patrice Canayer’s words on board, following the injury of the Slovenian, Vid Kavticnik. Nikola Portner was given a chance to shine in goal. The young Swiss goalkeeper did well and even scored two goals from three attempts. Montpellier had the best offence in the group, which they built on today to win comfortably.

Sharp beginning

Valentin Porte gave the hosts the lead in the 4th minute and since that point, Elverum were trailing. The Norwegians made a number of technical faults, leaving room for quick counter attacks. The Norwegians could not get a touch on their opponent, despite the scoring potency of Josef Pujol. The Swedish centre back seems to like playing against Montpellier. In two games this season against the French side, he scored a total of 15 goals.

Celebration mode

A small ceremony ahead of the game, decorating the French and Slovenian medallists in Montpellier jerseys, set the atmosphere into celebration mode right from the start. The fans enjoyed the game as much as the players enjoyed scoring their beautiful goals. In the 55th minute, the All-star goalkeeper from the World Championship, Vincent Gerard, received a loud applause, as he went in goal to save Tamas Ivancsik’s seven metres throw.

Post-match comments:

Patrice Canayer (MHB Coach) : "I'm very happy with the result and performance; we wanted to put things right after our poor showing in the first match in Elverum. Zaporozhye are a good Champions League team, but if we want to exist at this level we must beat this sort of team."

Michael Alpegren (Elverum Coach) : "Montpellier put on a different performance than in the first match. Our team is developing and I'm very proud of our performance tonight and our run in the Champions League."

Andre Lindboe (Elverum Player) : "We wanted to get more points than last season, which we have achieved, so we're happy, especially for a Norwegian club side."

HC Metalurg (MKD) vs Chekhvoskie Medvedi (RUS) 31:24 (15:10)

Metalurg Skopje comfortably beat Chekhovskie Medvedi 31:24 to secure the third spot in the group. Considering how many players left the club before the season, as well as the roster Lino Cervar worked with, it can be considered a big progress from the young perspective team.

First match without Taleski

Without their biggest start of the season, Lino Cervar’s men played their first European match – Filip Taleski signed with Rhein Neckar Löwen. As a result, Filip Kuzmanovski became the main leader of the Macedonian offence. The loss of Taleski left no scars on the play of the Macedonian team.

On contrary, Kuzmanovski and Obradovic in the back court scored half of the goals. On the line, Peshevski, alongside productive Ilic on the left wing, added to the quality offensive performance against the vulnerable Bears.

Patience

A number of technical faults and the reliable Darko Arsic in goal helped HC Metalurg build a solid lead in the first half. Although Vladimir Maximov ordered a 5-1 defence with special attention to Nemanja Obradovic, Metalurg found a way through in their attack. Chekhovskie Medvedi were dangerous, thanks to Kirill Kotov, but even his five goals alone could not better the result of the game.

Youngster’s progress

Metalurg used the momentum they gained from the win over Zagreb in the Seha League. They pleased the fans with nice goals throughout the match; Ilic scoring a splendid 7-metre throw in the 18th minute. It was the Serbian left winger who fired in eight goals. The positive course of the match allowed Lino Cervar to give a chance to the bench players in the final minutes of the game.

Post-match comments:

Vladimir Maximov, Coach Chekhovskie Medvedi: ''We played two different halfs, but we lost the game. In general, if you don’t score goals, you will lose; it's that simple. We couldn’t find an answer against the system with 7 players in the offence that Lino Cervar played and also Metalurg had two very good players today - goalkeeper Arsic in the defence and Peshevski in the offence.''
 
Lino Cervar, Coach HC Metalurg: ''We deserve this third place, because of the points that we have already and because of the game that we play. We played against a good opponent and this was a tough victory. We made a solid difference early in the game and we managed to keep that lead to dictate the tempo of the game. The victory goes to all the players on our team, with no exceptions.''